Hyderabad: An overcast sky did not play spoil sport for over 20,000 people who made it to the Hyderabad Marathon on Sunday.
With a record registration of over 21,000 this year, the seventh edition became the largest event. The event was launched in 2010. The organisers lauded the spirit of Hyderabadis, who made the event successful.
“The response was overwhelming unlike anything seen before in Hyderabad. Despite closing the registration within a month and strict qualifying rules, people participated in record numbers,” said Mr Murali Nannapaneni, race director.
The organisers claimed that there was a 20 per cent increase this year compared with last year when 16,000 persons took part. The maximum participation was seen in the 5km category and the 10km fun-run saw over 13,000 persons taking part this year.
The main marathon category had 1,000 runners in 42km and 5,000 runners for 21km. Of these, women constituted 40 per cent.
The organisers said that more people will get attracted to the full-fledged marathon from next year.
“It is a good thing to see many people becoming health-conscious,” said Mr Rajesh Vetcha, founder and president of the Hyderabad Runners, who organised the event in association with Airtel.
The runners got a prize money worth '7.2 lakh in total which was handed over by state minister KTR.
There were 80 international athletes and 3,500 runners from other states in India.
The winners in the full marathon category were Mr Indrajeet Yadav and Ms Jyothi Gawate who covered the 42km race in 2 hours and 31 minutes and 3 hours and 8 minutes, respectively.
The winners of the half marathon were Mr Samroo Yadav and Ms Amandeep Kaur who covered the 21 km race in 1 hour and 10 minutes and 1 hour and 30 minutes, respectively.
